Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Trip Report (May 13 - 15) - Main Trail

Mt. Whitney
Main Trail Trip Report (May 13-15, 2005)

(Sorry for the long post, I got a little carried away)

My girlfriend and I managed to summit Mt. Whitney this past weekend, roughly following the main trail route to the summit. The weather was great; we had clear skies and relatively warm weather for the entire trip. However, with the amount of snow on the mountain this year, it was definitely a winter trip and potentially dangerous if one doesn’t have the necessary winter snow travel skills.

Friday night we camped out in the parking lot of the Whitney Portal. Aside from driving around one large boulder, the road was clear the entire way up. Saturday morning, after a quick breakfast, we started hiking up the trail at around 8:00 a.m. There is now a cool scale set up at the trail head for weighing backpacks. With winter gear, snowshoes and all the rest, my pack weighed in at a frightening 52 lb (I used absolutely everything). My girlfriend’s pack was a sizeable 47 lb, but she managed it like a pro. If I could, I would suggest bringing no more than one liter of water from the trail head. Up until about 10,000’, you cross a number of streams and getting water isn’t a problem. Plus it is much lighter to filter water than to carrying it!

Around 9,500’ we hit the snow line and were basically on snow for the rest of the trip. On the way up, the snow was pretty firm, as it was still early in the day. Traveling from the Portal to Outpost Camp really was not difficult. Even with all the snow, it is something that could definitely be done without an ice axe or crampons. However, there are some areas just below Outpost Camp that could be potentially dangerous, especially during the next couple of weeks. In several places, hikers use snow bridges to cross streams. In the two days we were on the mountain, some of these disappeared entirely, while others became much more fragile. On a couple of these bridges, I couldn’t tell if I was over water until I heard it flowing directly underneath. Be careful when crossing the streams.

Anyone planning to stay at Outpost Camp should be prepared to deal with a good amount of snow once there. I am guessing that most of the area will continue to be covered with snow through the month of May. After Outpost Camp, we went to Mirror Lake and headed straight up the left most headwall. This section was a bit icy and rather steep. My girlfriend didn’t like it too much, but I felt it was good additional training for her. For those of you looking for the more leisurely route, head to the left, up through the trees just before Mirror Lake. It is a much easier and safer route (but probably a bit slower). Once we reached the ridge above Mirror Lake, it was just a long uphill slog to Trail Camp. Here is where snow started to soften up a bit. Also, keep in mind that at Trail Camp, there really aren’t any good water sources available right now. However, about five minutes before getting to Trail Camp there was a nice trickle coming down a rock face on your right, as you are hiking uphill. I scrambled up to this trickle and filled our water bottles, as we were empty at this point. A few minutes after filling up on water we rounded a bend and spotted the solar toilet. We were overjoyed at the sight of the nasty outhouse. We were done walking for the day!

At Trail Camp I was quite surprised by the number of tents we saw. I would guess that by the end of the night, there were at least twelve tents set up at Trail Camp. We put our own tent up, cooked some food and relaxed for a bit before settling in for the night. Again, water wasn’t easily found, so we resorted to melting snow. The temperatures were great, I was in a long sleeved shirt and felt fine; however, the amount of snow around made it look like we were there in the middle of winter. Traces of the 99 switch backs could be seen, but I have a strong feeling that these won’t be uncovered until late June at the earliest. With all our housekeeping duties taken care of, we sat back and relaxed for a bit, enjoying the view. I couldn’t imagine a nicer place to sit on a warm rock and eat a cup of ramen noodles.

While enjoying the view, one thing that struck me as a bit odd was how late some people were coming down from the summit. Even stranger, many of these people were coming down by themselves. There were people straggling into camp until about 8:00 p.m that evening. I took this as a strong hint to get an early start.

The sun set over the ridge some time around 7:00 p.m., and immediately became noticeably colder. Shortly after 8:00 p.m., with the sky still fairly bright, we crawled into our sleeping bags with the alarm set for 5:00 a.m. We settled in and despite the annoying endless chatter of the Korean group camped near us, managed to quickly fall asleep. At around midnight I woke up to find my backside a bit cold. Evidently my $120 Exped “mattress pad of the future” had a small leak. I was pretty surprised by this as I had used the mattress pad on dozens of trips previously and it had performed without fail. So, I re-inflated it and used this little interruption as an opportunity to use the facilities. I put my boots on and opened the door to be met by mountain air as crisp as a bucket of cold water in the face. My girlfriend, who did not believe me when I told her that there were no bears prowling around outside our tent, did the same but in about one-tenth the time. After all the winter mountaineering trips that I have gone on, I still can’t imagine anything more miserable than going to the bathroom in the middle of the night, in the snow.

5:00 a.m. came quickly and getting out of the sleeping bag was miserable as usual. We ate a very quick breakfast and cooked some hot chocolate while the sun peaked over the White Mountain range, providing us with an amazingly beautiful sunrise. By 6:00 a.m. we were hiking up the bowl to Trail Crest, with four people ahead of us. The snow was perfect for hiking in crampons, the consistency of styrofoam, having frozen pretty hard the night before. About a half an hour into the climb, we stopped at a nice rock. My girlfriend’s feet were quite cold and I helped her warm them up. Evidently there was a bit of moisture in her boots that made it hard for her feet to warm up. After about ten minutes with her feet under my armpits, they were warm enough to continue. Also, since my girlfriend did not have a lot of winter travel experience, I decided that this would be a good spot to rope up, with about eight feet of rope between us. I think her being short-roped mainly helped to give her added confidence on the slope, but also made me feel better in case she were to slip.

After three hours of climbing, a number of short pauses and lots of heavy breathing we climbed the approximately 1,500’ from Trail Camp to Trail Crest. Here, at around 13,500’, we went from fairly steep, but relatively easy terrain, to the colder and windier side of the mountain and its significantly more dangerous terrain. After Trail Crest, the path turned into an airy catwalk that had been stomped into the snow drifts by the climbers who had gone before us. Even though snow covered nearly all of the actual trail at this point, there was a clear path of footsteps to follow. For climbers that are experienced with ice axe and crampon usage, this section will provide lots of exposure, but will not be too difficult. For those that are not skilled at self arrest, this section could be quite deadly.

After three hours time and countless of these airy catwalks, we made it from Trail Crest to the summit of Whitney. While my girlfriend was a bit uncomfortable with the exposure, she continued on like a pro and neither of us found it to be too difficult. Along the way, we met four other climbers who were on their way down, as well a couple who had passed us on the way up to Trail Crest. At the summit hut, I was a bit saddened to see that the door had somehow been ripped off the hut and as a result the entire inside had been filled with snow. I can’t for the life of me figure out why someone would want to vandalize a place like this? We ended up spending about twenty minutes on the summit. We ate a quick snack, signed the registry, took the necessary victory pictures and then high tailed it back down the hill.

We faced all of the same obstacles on the way back to Trail Crest; all the airy exposed catwalks and tons of snow nearly every step of the way. However, the snow had softened up a bit, which made planting secure foot steps a bit easier. After about two hours, we made it back to Trail Crest. The last couple of traverses began to wear on my girlfriend and we were both very happy to be finished with the section. Especially since we got to enjoy the fun part next; the glissade back down to camp. We walked down the bowl just far enough to make sure that we wouldn’t hit any of the rocks present on our way down, and then enjoyed a nice long slide. It took us about a half an hour to slide down what took us three hours to climb up. We were back in camp by around 3:00 p.m., so all together it took us about nine hours to get to the summit and back from Trail Camp. In hindsight, our performance and travel time were ok, especially considering the terrain that we had to deal with. If doing it again, the one thing I would have done differently would have been to leave camp about an hour earlier, especially since by 5:30 a.m. it was light enough to see without a headlamp.

Once in camp we quickly set to work packing up our things and eating a quick lunch at the same time. We both knew that we had a long march ahead of us and really wanted to get back to the car before night fall. By about 4:30 p.m., we had our snow shoes on and were headed down the trail back to the Portal. By this point, the snow was very soft and we were both happy to be wearing snowshoes. Without them, I think we would have gone a good bit slower because of the slushy snow and post-holed quite a bit. As the snow get softer and softer, I think snowshoes will continue to be quite useful, especially for hiking late in the day.

We made it to Outpost Camp by about 6:30 p.m. and shortly thereafter, we heard some type of animal off in the distance making a grunting noise. I’ve heard it before and am not sure if it is a bird or some larger animal. My girlfriend was convinced it was a bear and set about talking loudly, making lots of noise. Coincidentally, our pace really sped up at this point in time. All of this made it much harder for me to hear the noise that I pointed out in the first place. So, down we continued, past the swollen streams, beyond the snow until around 8:00 p.m., when we made it back at the Portal with about a half an hour of daylight to spare.

Along the way we noticed that quite a bit of snow had melted and several of the snow bridges that we had used the day before to cross streams had become unusable. However, there is simply so much snow in the area that I don’t think much of the main trail will be exposed until well into June. As I said earlier, I think that most people who are comfortable camping in the snow could make it up to Outpost Camp or even Trail Camp fairly easily with out the need for crampons or an ice axe. However, after Outpost Camp it is an entirely different story. Beyond this area, one simply needs to be skilled with an ice axe and crampons and be prepared for some fairly difficult terrain. I doubt that the 99 Switchbacks will be free of snow until late June or more likely early July. From Trail Crest to the summit, I would expect about the same.

A basic question. I will be hiking on or about 6/1/05 if possible. Just a day hike. Everyone makes reference to locations along the hike. However, no where on this site do I see where I can access a basic trail map that shows the distance from, say, the campground to Mirror Lake. If one, like me, does not know the trail, and is from out of the area, how do I find a simple map so I can use the info provide by people making posts as to how far those locations are from the campground and what the elevation gain is.

Thanks.

Francis: I looked up the details.

Whitney portal start of trail/ 8360 ft.

About 2.5 miles to Lone Pine Lake/ 9850 ft

About 3.5 miles Bighorn park/ Outpost camp 10,365 feet

Mirror Lake comes at 4.0 miles/ 10640 feet

6.0 miles to Trail Camp 12000 ft

8.2 miles up to the top of the 97 Switchbacks & Trail Crest at 13777 feet

Mt. Whitney Summit at 10.7 miles/ 14497.6 ft.

You can look at the details of the trail on www.topozone.com Follow the arrows up the trail.

<a href="http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=36.5888&lon=-118.2307&datum=nad83">topo zone</a>

JPR: A super big congratulations for your winter summit. That is an amazing accomplishment. I can only imagine the commitement level this time of year, dealing with the snow. What a great experience that must have been.

JPR - Thanks for one super report!! It should be mandatory reading for anyone heading up the trail for the next month.

JPR, congrats on a sucessful summit and thanks for the excellent report.

I'm also impressed by the fact that your girlfriend made it all the way, and by the way you were there to help her through the tough parts. What a team. And what a girlfriend!!!

I've got a question. With the snowmelt feeding the creek, if the snowbridges completely disappear and the creek keeps rising, what would the options be for getting across? I've only been on Whitney in the summer months and had to rock hop across the creeks. What if the creek is huge and the snow bridges are gone?

Francis: Even though the trail is pretty easy to follow, I'd strongly suggest picking up a good map, especially if it is your first time to the mountain. If the topo zone thing prooves to be too much of a pain, just head to a store like A16, REI or Sports Chalet. You should be able to get a good map for under $10. Alternatively, if the portal store is open, you could buy a map there too. It will make your day hike a lot more enjoyable.

Bob: I wouldn't be too worried about the stream crossings. My biggest concern and fear was falling through one of the snow bridges into the water below. In one particular gully above Outpost Camp, I could hear the water rushing below even though we were on the middle of a steep snowfield. I thought falling through here could really ruin someone's weekend. Be careful!

As for all the other crossings, you should still be able to hop across or use logs that have been placed over the streams. You just might have to get creative.

Oh, and yes, my girlfriend is quite a trooper!

Thanks for all the other comments!

JPR, Great trip report!
You wrote "...we heard some type of animal off in the distance making a grunting noise. I’ve heard it before and am not sure if it is a bird or some larger animal".
The "grunting" noise you heard was most likely a Blue Grouse. You can often hear the males calling in a loud "booming" call from the tree tops this time of year. If you don't know what it is, it can conjure up all sorts of images in your mind!

JPR,

Congratulations for your sucessful summit and thanks for the excellent reports. Its great report for everyone who planning to summit in the nearest future. Our group of 6 will take the main trail on 06/25, we don't have any ice axe and crampons. So, I keep checking the new topics all the time. Hope more experience hikers will share their update info of the trails like you,
Thanks again. Perry

Harrison Maps publishes a waterproof "Whitney Zone" map that has a topo of the area as well as all the pertinent mileage and elevation info. I got mine for about 10 bucks at Sport Chalet. REI does infact carry them too!

I'm going up that same weekend, Perryti. Are you doing a day trip or camping at one of the high camps? I thought we were going late enough in the season to avoid the snow, but now I'm not so sure. I'll be checking the reports daily as well, hoping we get lots of warm weather in the meantime.
Questions for you experts out there:
Does anyone know if it is easy to get a campsite at the Whitney Portal, or if you need a reservation? The place where we reserved our day pass assured us that it's no problem, but I'm not so sure. We wanted to camp there Friday night.
Also, since we have a day pass for Saturday, and we plan on getting there Fri evening, is there a way to get our pass Fri night so we don't have to drive back into Lone Pine?
Thanks.

dvelias, My permit is 06/25 - 06/26, will p/u permit @ ranger station once they open, then drive all the way up the Whitney Portal. Start
hiking up to trail camp as early as we can. Will
camp one nite @ Trail camp. Wake up @5:00am, welcome the sunrise(if weather is good), & then summit all the way. However, planing just a planing, it all depends on the weather of the day. It is my 2nd Mt. Whitney visit. We try a day hike last Oct, but face a snow storm all the nite. For safety reason, we turn around @ Trail camp back to the W/P. Like to see u there, Good luck. Perryti

dvelias, there should be plenty of camping spots for you. They are walk-in, across from the trail head. Call the Lone Pine Ranger Station to work out an arrangement for picking up your permit Friday night. The rangers can put your permit in an outside box. It's unlikely someone will take your permit this time of year.

My permit is for 6/25-6/26 too. It's my second attempt (tried to day-hike in 1995 and had to turn around at trail camp due to altitude sickness).

According to the paperwork, you can pick up your permit 24 hours in advance (if you're planning on camping out the day before anyway, it shouldn't be a problem). If WP camp is full you can always camp at the lower campground. We stayed there before the last attempt (the low elevation probably contributed to the altitude sickness). Even though WP was full, we were one of only three groups at the lower campground. I don't think that ever fills up.

JPR, do you have any pictures from your trip? I'm particularly interested in pictures of the summit ascent between trail crest and the peak. We have a trip planned for June 3-4 and I, being a tad (putting it mildly) acrophobic, want to know what I'm getting myself into. I have an ice axe and crampons, but unfortunately our "warm up" trip to Mt. Silliman ended up having too much soft snow and not enough ice to make practicing with either at all realistic.

Picture a 12-18 inch wide path with a 4000 foot drop on your left. It's not totally vertical but if you don't arrest immediately, you're going for a big ride.

Pictures (lots) are here: http://capebase.com/ipw-web/gallery/Whitney
The pics are pretty much chronological from the Portal up, so you'd find pictures for Trail Crest and above towards the end.

Valerie

The path beyond trail crest isn't quite as bad as Mike00 wrote, but it gives you an idea. I'll try and post some pictures tonight. Keep in mind thought that it is something that you will be able to evaluate pretty quickly once you reach trail crest. Who knows, with the current warm weather, it may be a good bit easier to follow...

Also, as I sit here today, brushing pieces of flakey dead skin off my desk, I would strongly encourage you to use better sunscreen than I did. Even more, apply it often... (damn, my nose hurts...)